Prolonged hyperventilation, for example due to anxiety and associated chronic hyperventilation syndrome.

Morning Sickness

Morning sickness can prevent a woman to eat and drink enough. In severe morning sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum, a woman can additionally lose a lot of fluid by repeated vomiting and is therefore at high risk for severe dehydration that requires admission to hospital and intravenous fluid replacement.

How much water should a pregnant woman drink to prevent dehydration?

According to the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM), the Adequate Intake (AI) for water during pregnancy is 3 liters 5. Adequate intake means amount of water from both foods and beverages that would provide adequate hydration for most pregnant women. But a woman may need less or more than this amount of depending on how much of water she loses. You probably drink enough when:

You excrete at least about 300 mL of clear or bright yellow urine in the morning

The skin on the back of your hand recoils instantly when you pinch and release it.

Treatment of MILD or MODERATE Dehydration in Pregnancy

When you are mildly or moderately dehydrated you can replace the lost fluid by drinking more water. For every kilogram of lost weight you drink about 1.5 liters fluid (to cover the missing amount of water and the current loses from the urine).

Less appropriate beverages, but still acceptable: fruit juices, soft drinks and other drinks high in sugar, sport drinks, clear soups and milk (may be harder to drink in nausea or contribute to weight gain).

Inappropriate beverages: any alcoholic beverage.

It is not clear if caffeine is harmful for the developing baby, but most doctors advise against drinking caffeinated beverages (regular coffee, tea, cola, energy drinks) during pregnancy.

When to go to hospital?

When you can not eat and drink anything in any given day, no matter how mildly dehydrated you think you are.

When you have signs and symptoms of moderate to severe dehydration: you have lost 5% or more body weight in few hours/days, you excrete dark urine.

Treatment of SEVERE Dehydration in Pregnancy

Nausea and vomiting are the main causes of severe dehydration in pregnancy. Severe dehydration is usually treated in a hospital with infusion of fluids, such as 0.9% solution of sodium chloride into a vein (intravenous infusion). Treatment of nausea and vomiting may be necessary at the same time.

Are ketones in urine a sign of dehydration?

Ketones in the urine of pregnant women is usually a sign of low carbohydrate diet or fasting due to nausea, or gestational diabetes. Dehydration can cause false positive results for urinary ketones [3].